We jumped into the midst of a skirmish. The sharp retort of a bullet was all I heard before the deadly pellet slammed against Dusk's shield. The humans had gathered together behind a low wall, and the ponies were charging their position.
"Stop!" shouted Sandra with a thump of a hoof against the ground and a lashing of her thick tail.
Those that could hear her hesitated and stared quizzically at the vision of their leader come to personally command them.
Neon rolled her eyes. "We don't look that alike." She hopped up on an abandoned mailbox. "Commandword ice brick. Freeze to the two o' clock immediately or catch frostbite."
The conflict began to wind down rapidly, but I could see some ponies hadn't heard, and were getting dangerously close to the humans. An equine head popped out of the ground behind them and scrambled up with hoof-claws at the ready. I jumped to the pony with a flash, interrupting its charge, and drawing the attention of the humans.
My thanks was a panicked set of gunshots. Cindy tried to block them, but bullets wore through shields disappointingly fast. My lower body screamed in pain as I took two for the team and stumbled before collapsing. It hurt too much to stand, but I could still scream, so I did. The battle ended.
The little town that had posted this fierce resistance didn't have any formal doctors. Add to that the fact that I was infectious and I just wasn't getting much help out of them. Fortunately, some of the pony militants knew how to dress wounds, and saw to removing the bullets and bandaging up the wounds.
Cindy smiled at the field doctor once she was done. "Can you send someone over?"
She looked confused, but soon an earth pony came trotting up. "Yes, peacemaker?"
Cindy explained quickly. "I want to use some of your energy to heal faster, may I? It won't hurt at all, and you'll get better, just be a little tired right now."
The stallion looked uncertain at first, but then sank to the ground and laid out, offering himself. Cindy wrapped her tongues around him and drew gently from him. "Thank you." Our wounds stopped throbbing quite as angrily as the excess energy was put to work mending them. They weren't healed entirely, but soon we could stand at least, with a painful reminder of our activity.
Dust approached us at a light trot. "Situation is under control. The ponies and the people are staying away from each other for now, and your boy, Hope, is offering cleanings so they can approach the humans without harm. Not everyone's taking the offer, but it's a start."
"Hope?" I raised a brow quizzically at Dust.
"Dust, Dusk, too similar, so I'm calling him Hope. It fits him well. He has a lot of that, hope that is."
Cindy smiled at Dust Kicker. "Alright, was anyone seriously hurt?"
Dust rolled her eyes. "It was a battle, of course. There's dead on both sides, and a few humans are going to be four-legged soon. Sandra volunteered to help with those."
I perked up, ears going forward. "She doesn't have a lot of experience with that, we should be there to help."
Dust guided us to where Sandra was, and we found out she had taken a unique turn on it. Rather than making them into full ponies, she made them into humanoid ponies. They had hands and hooves, were furry and had pony faces. Naturally bipedal ponies with hands, basically. They seemed tolerant of it.
One of them, a woman, who still had breasts, was thanking Sandra. "This is a lot better than becoming a beast."
One of the men snorted. "We still are, but at least we kept our hands... I guess if we had to, it could have been worse." The man had become a unicorn, the woman an earth pony.
Sandra smiled. "You're welcome, but none of them are beasts. They have emotions and plans and everything else a human has, minus hands."
When they wandered off, I approached Sandra. "Are you sure that was a good idea? They're going to have a real hard time fitting in with the humans or the ponies like that."
Sandra shrugged a little. "They begged me to help, so I did as best as I could. Should I make everyone else into normal ponies even if they ask for something different?"
Dust glanced towards the retreating forms of the human-ponies. "It would be kinder, in the long run. Ponies have ponies to be companions with, and humans have humans, but they are mostly unique, and alone. What's done is done. Have you seen Hope?"
Hope, as he had accepted being called, wasn't hard to find. He rejoined us with a smile. "Things are as calm as they're going to get, but I think we're wasting time with jumping into trouble, and it's dangerous."
Neon huffed. "You have a better idea then?" She extended a tongue to tickle under Hope's chin. "Speak up, we're listening."
Hope blushed a little bit and glanced between Neon and Dust. Dust suddenly laughed. "We're not married yet, stud. We haven't even had our first date. I won't hit you for cheating yet, and it's her being a whore, not you."
Neon's expression darkened. "Watch who you're calling a whore. I haven't done anything to him." She withdrew her tongue with a little frown.
Hope rubbed behind his head. "Well, yes, we should get back to the army. They can communicate more easily with others, and give transportation that doesn't involve us appearing in the middle of an active gunfight. Besides, we've told two groups that the fight's over. They're going to spread the word too. W-we can't afford to have William taking more bullets." His ears fell and he looked quite dismayed at the idea.
I wasn't looking forward to playing bullet sponge anymore than he was. "Right, let's jump back to HQ and report what's happened."
Neon huffed gently. "And that's when I'll be arrested and thrown away forever?"
Dust kicked at the dirt beneath her. "Too kind."
Cindy shook her head. "You're stuck with us, Neon. We're not letting you go yet."
Neon nodded slowly. Her expression brightened as the gravity of her acceptance became more clear. "I'll be more useful at your side than rotting away in a cell."
Sandra put a leg over Neon and pulled her over. She cradled the smaller pony as if Neon were her foal. Neon shuddered softly as Sandra cuddled her. "I'm not a child!"
Sandra's tongues softly groomed through Neon's mane and under her chin. "And here you are."
Perhaps Neon was enjoying the affection, since she didn't complain again, and the two became quiet.
Hope watched them a moment before looking at Dust. "Once, I wanted her for a mate."
"Neon?" Dust raised a brow high with disbelief.
"No! No, I meant Sandra." Hope rubbed at a cheek with a hoof, blushing brightly. "But she's mostly attached to Will, and now she's big..." He sank a little. "I sound so shallow right now."
Dust softly nudged at Hope. "Stop beating yourself up. She's obviously way in for William. No harm in that, and Will, well, she likes her back, and, uh, hard to compete with that, I guess."
Hope's blush only grew worse. "N-no! I can! I mean..."
Dust turned to face him, looking curious before she casually reached and pushed him over onto his back. It was only moments later that she confirmed he was quite adequately endowed, twice. "Huh. So you do have some surprises in you."
Hope brought his hind legs together, hiding himself as best he could. "I'm not trying to show off. I mean, it's weird."
Neon snorted at the scene, watching from where Sandra was grooming her. "Hardly the strangest thing on display in this little herd. We should get going." She rose to her hooves and soon we all gathered together. With a mighty jump, I propelled us through the void towards where we had started the journey.
We appeared beside the military command in a flash of energy. Some of the guards were surprised, but we weren't shot for it, which counted as a success in my book. A few recognized me and the others and welcomed us back, but their eyes were on Dust and Neon and Sandra, all either new or changed enough to appear new.
Rather than trying to explain to each person in turn, we just asked for a place to stay until the brass had a moment for us, and retired to a room together.
The room they selected was a nice one, at least. It had several mattresses, and I picked one to crash on and rest.
Hope looked around before moving back to Dust. "Welcome to our home, er, at least one of them."
Dust raised a brow. "Why aren't there lights?"
Sandra slapped the ground with a tail. "Well maybe we can fix that, now that we're back. You can help, if you know how the setup works. Getting electricity back would make a large difference in the quality of life in the city." Sandra suddenly went stiff and pawed at the ground. "Neon, cut that out..."
Neon drew back her tongues from where they had slipped under Sandra. "Tit for tat. You would have enjoyed it if you'd just relaxed."
Sandra cleared her throat. "Um, maybe." She raised a hoof and ran it over Neon's head. "Later."
Cindy's thoughts came quietly, ~I think Neon is bonding with Sandra.~
~Like what, mates?~
~No, not quite. Sandra is mated to you, or us, fairly solidly. I think it is more like a sister, with benefits.~
I rolled my eyes. Only in this new world order could such a thing sound so normal. ~As long as both are happy, but this reminds me. If royalty all comes down to our attachment to strong-willed creatures, is there any genetics involved at all? Does it make a difference who we have kids with?~
Neon puffed out her chest. "I can help. I know exactly how that setup works, and I shared that information only with the few ponies that shared my gift." She looked to Sandra. "You can be another, my usurper."
Sandra raised a brow. "Are you saying that angrily, or affectionately? I'm honestly getting confused."
Neon licked over her lips with her many tongues. "If you want to give my power back, I'll take it, but I doubt that..."
Sandra rolled a hoof. "So are you angry with me?"
Neon was quiet a moment, peering at Sandra steadily before she moved forward and nuzzled into soft fur. Sandra accepted the answer and the two were soon hugging one another quietly.
Dust snorted. "Bitch is getting way more than she should." She turned to Hope and pulled him close with her magic before throwing a leg over his withers. "Just look at her, playing suck up."
Hope smiled nervously. "She's doing what she knows how to do. At least she doesn't have magic, like us."
"Exactly!" Dust clopped a hoof. "We have to handle that. All she can do is be loud."